After Seven
by Aki Midori
Summary: Knowing you have someone to come home to makes every day worth enduring... makes life worth living.


After Seven   
by Aki Midori  
  
  
Rating: G  
Keywords: Sendoh. Rukawa. Friends. The rest is up to your imagination... *wink*  
Warnings: I dunno. Be warned, I guess. You know me.   
Genre: Albeit of angst. A dash of dry humor.  
  
Dedicated to **Chache-koneko** of the AkiraxKaede ML. Thanks for bringing back that feeling of never wanting a day to end. It's been quite a while since I last enjoyed immensely.   
  
Summary: Knowing you have someone to come home to makes every day worth enduring... makes life worth living.   
  


* * *

**After Seven**

  
-------------------------------  
_When your day is long  
and the night is yours alone,  
When you think you've had enough of this life,  
Hang on  
Don't let yourself go  
'Coz everybody cries  
And everybody hurts_  
  
-Everybody Hurts. _The Corrs_  
-------------------------------  
  
Seven o'clock. Time for him to go home. But first things first, he had to have one. Just one. Nothing more.   
  
"No." And he said it with such vehemence, too.   
  
But the impudent little bastard endlessly blinked back at him, as if to say, "Yes."   
  
He shook his head again. Of course this wasn't happening. This wasn't fuckin' happening. This wasn't allowed to happen at all, for holy cows' sake!   
  
'No sale.' The indolent bastard flashed. 'No sale. No sale. No sale. No sale. No sale.' And if that wasn't enough, there was also a huge 'OUT OF ORDER SIGN."   
  
Indeed. It was happening.   
  
Okay. Fine. He could take that. So he was deprived of the only thing which kept him sane all day long; his saving grace, amidst inevitable chaos. Fine. He could handle that. He freakin' wanted to scream in frustration, but he's calm and he's cool, so he could freakin' handle it. He doesn't care at all, even if his whole damn day was the worst of his life.   
  
Hell, every day is the worst day of his life. In short, it was a horrible life.   
  
Fine. No coffee. FINE!   
  
But this... he couldn't handle at all.   
  
There, in the middle of a deserted street, stood a man.   
  
A very, very wet man.   
  
He was that man, of course.   
  
"You've gotta be kidding."   
  
Rain poured harder.   
  
"This is a joke."   
  
But it wasn't.   
  
"I've had a bad day, and I won't have you ruining it further."   
  
A streak of lightning sparked across the dark sky, followed by a bolt of thunder.   
  
"Damn."   
  
And that was all he could say.   
  
It was indeed, 'one of those days' for Rukawa Kaede. Fighting back the urge to howl in frustration, Rukawa braved the storm and ran the last few blocks towards his home. What a fine day to lose the keys to his car. He wouldn't have minded using the train to go to work and back, but what he hated most was the walk to and from the station. And of course, because the gods up there have decided to play with his life today, they decided to let the sky pee in generous volumes... in the middle of Rukawa's weary trudge towards home.   
  
He hated his life. He hated the world and he hated the people in it, he hated his family, he hated his father, he hated his job, he hated his office, he hated what he has become. And was it ever mentioned that he hated his life?   
  
But who could blame him? They stole away his dream, and replaced it with theirs. They stripped him away from the one sport that he loved the most, and dumped him in a spacious, impersonal office. They burned his beloved jerseys and replaced it with expensive suits. They took basketball away from him, and him away from basketball. What does that leave him? Stripped away of all that defined his being, he was nothing but a hollow soul. A man, merely existing, dying slowly, day by day.   
  
He hated them for that, but he loved them, anyway, because they were his family. He did as he was told- threw away his own dreams, extinguished his passion, and lived to be the man that they wanted him to be.   
  
He was miserable.   
  
There was once a time in his life, where nothing mattered to him at all, except for his passion. But gone are the happy days... those blissful days.   
  
It was a tiring day at the office- his secretary was on leave and was replaced by an idiot, his coffee-maker was destroyed, his clienteles were doubting his competence, his lucky pen was lost, the Executives' Meeting was a zoo, his employees were threatening to go on a strike for reasons he doesn't even know, and damn. His coffe-maker was broken. The vending machine was broken, too.   
  
It was, of course, 'one of those days', and he was, as per usual, miserable.   
  
He was miserable, tired, and wet. Very, very wet.   
  
Thank heavens, he was home.   
  
"Rukawa! You're wet!"   
  
"Like, duh."   
  
"Sarcastic, as always." Sendoh smiled. "Go ahead and take a shower, buddy. Dinner will be ready in a few."   
  
And just like that, Rukawa felt fine. With one smile, everything became all right.   
  
------------------------  
  
He made the shot, the crowd went wild, and a lone tear made its way down a pale cheek.   
  
It was a little after seven o'clock, and what a sorry sight he was making. Surrounded by papers, laptop blinking figures into his face, calculator thrown across the room. He was sprawled across the floor, watching one of his taped games, work abandoned. The orange ball was all he could see, and all he could hear were the wild cheers of the crowd. The ball bounced against the polished floor and into his hand. It fit perfectly. And it felt so right when he out-ran his opponents, and even better when his feet left the floor and his hand touched the metal ring.   
  
It had felt so right... and /this/ felt so wrong.   
  
He couldn't get the figures right. He has been doing this for years now, but right now, he couldn't get the goddamn figures right. Everything was wrong, so wrong.   
  
"Fuck!" Rukawa threw the papers somewhere across the room and ran a shaky hand across his raven hair. He was about to punch the living moonlights out of the wall when Sendoh suddenly burst into the room, carrying two bottles of beer. He paid no heed to the mess around him and the muted game in the television.   
  
"Out of the room. Now."   
  
The next few moments found Rukawa sitting on the porch, a bottle of beer cradled in his hand, his best friend at his side. The rain has stopped, and the clouds gave way to a full moon and a couple million stars. It was a calm, beautiful night- perfect for a tired, weary soul.   
  
"I told you to come drink with me after dinner, but what did you do? Locked yourself in your room again and buried yourself into your freakin' work. I told you not to bring work at home."   
  
"But I have to."   
  
"Bullshit," Sendoh spat. "Next time you bring those shit here, I'm going to burn them till the flames reach kingdom come, you hear?"   
  
A long moment of silence passed before Rukawa gave his affirmative.   
  
"Good," Sendoh said, obviously satisfied at his friend's reply. He took one look at Rukawa's forlorn form and blew out a sigh. "Tough day?"   
  
"Try /life/, instead."   
  
"Come on, man. It couldn't be that bad."   
  
"But it is. You know that."   
  
One look at Rukawa was all it took for Sendoh to pass an arm around weary shoulders. For a moment, he wondered where the old Rukawa has gone. It's been so long since he last saw Rukawa alive and burning with passion. For all the world thinks that Rukawa is a selfish bastard who thinks only of basketball, in reality, the man was much more than that. He was the strongest, most selfless person Sendoh ever knew. To be able to throw away something which mattered so much to you, that thing you breathe, that thing which kept you alive- that must be very, very hard.   
  
But Rukawa did it, and for that, Sendoh respected him immensely. But a man could only bear so much pain. For how long will Rukawa be able to carry the unwanted burden? There are limits to a man's strength. Rukawa's was slowly diminishing, day by day. In Sendoh's point of view, his younger friend doesn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve to be hurt like that, because in all his years, he has never meant any harm to anybody.   
  
For all it's worth, he wanted to be the one to protect the man who seemed so strong, yet was so hurt. Rukawa always made him feel important, made him always feel so alive... and he wanted to do the same to his friend.   
  
No matter what the cost.   
  
Whilst Sendoh was deeply contemplating on how to be the perfect friend for the 'tired', 'weary' man, Rukawa himself was contemplating on his seemingly horrible day- er- life.   
  
He woke up late in the morning, and when he got to the bathroom, he found out that Sendoh has used up all the hot water. And the toothpaste. It was gone, for holy Hyne's sake, and by god, Rukawa needed to brush his teeth every-damn-morning. But there was no toothpaste. He'll have to make do with Bactidol.   
  
Breakfast was grand, too! Fried maple syrup with pancakes! Pancake powder chunks included! Damn. He'll really have to face the fact that he couldn't cook if his life depended on it. Thank gods for Sendoh's ultra-supreme super-dooper-oober breakfast, which consists of pancake in the form of penises (that damned hentai), boobs (that really damned hentai) and also... wittle birdies. Topped with maple syrup, of course. And the coffee was divine, thank the goddess Youka Nitta.   
  
But really. He lost his car keys, so he had to take the train. It was a fine trip, uneventful, save for that seemingly inconspicious bubble gum which realized it wanted to leech itself on Rukawa's slacks. Perfect.   
  
And the office? Just wonderful. If you like animals and zoos.   
  
And it happens every damn day. Sometimes, he just wanted to end it all. Fuck you all, drown in your miserable lives, and I'll go back to my Spalding, thanks very much. He didn't know why he was being such a martyr, but hell... no matter how unbearable his family may be... he loved them. Very much. Rukawa sighed. Ah, the things he would do for the ones he cared about. How he managed to live every day, he doesn't know. Somehow, he had the strength to last the day, to brave the unwanted challenges. For some reason, no matter how shitty his life has become, he still had the strength to go on. His life was so damn hard, and everything was so damn unfair-   
  
"Hey, if it makes you feel better, I was pooped upon by a pigeon earlier this morning."   
  
Sendoh. The damned man always had a way of pulling him out of his misery. Trust the man to destroy whatever angsty mood he has built.   
  
"You just don't let me brood, do you?" Rukawa asked softly, smiling slightly. Sendoh shook his head and slapped his shoulder.   
  
"And leave you alone to drown in your own puddle of cold, cold sorrow?" Sendoh snorted. "I think not. Life's shitty, but there are some good things out there. Wherever they may be."   
  
And looking at Sendoh, the older man's arm wrapped loosely around his shoulders, beer in their hands, under the light of the full moon, Rukawa just had to agree with that statement.   
  
How could he have forgotten those endless nights of talk over beer and pork cutlets? How could he have forgotten the kick-ass Tekken nights, the horrible karaoke showdowns, the fantastic dinners, the free back rubs, the poignant one-on-ones?   
  
He might have lost something important, but it was replaced with something even better.   
  
A friend.   
  
"Yo, Rukawa."   
  
"Hn?"   
  
"You know what the best day of my life is?"   
  
"When you got the MVP award last season?"   
  
Sendoh frowned. "No. That was the second best. You know what the best is?"   
  
"No."   
  
"'Twas the day we moved in together."   
  
"You make it sound as if we're a couple who eloped in the name of love."   
  
Sendoh laughed. "No, it's not that. It's just that being with you makes me feel- I dunno. Happy. I've never been this happy before. When I'm with you, nothing else matters. It seems as if all I ever want to do is to play Tekken or CTR with you, talk with you, sing with you, wrestle with you, be with you."   
  
"How can you want all those things, when you've got basketball to deal with?"   
  
"Basketball isn't always the most important thing in the world."   
  
"It was to me," Rukawa whispered. There was a long period of silence. "And I gave it up." Sendoh was about to speak when Rukawa held up his hand. "But it's ok now. I've accepted this kind of life. No regrets. At least YOU get to play. I could deal with that. Hold the dream. For both of us."   
  
"What do you think I'm doing?"   
  
"Exactly just that," Rukawa pointed out. "So, thank you."   
  
Sendoh squeezed the man tighter into his hold and said nothing. For moments like this, it was best to let silence reign. So many raw feelings, so many thoughts, best left unspoken, but there was that passing on of strength from one man to another.   
  
Rukawa smiled. Another pep talk from the one and only, high and mighty Sendoh Akira. No pork cutlets this time, but the beers were enough.   
  
He could get used to anything, just as long as he could go home to this every damned day.   
  
-----------------------------  
  
Seven o'clock. Time for him to go home. But first things, first he had to have one. Just one. Nothing more.   
  
"No." And he said it with such vehemence, too.   
  
But the impudent little bastard endlessly blinked back at him, as if to say, "Yes."   
  
He shook his head again. Of course this wasn't happening. This wasn't fuckin' happening. This wasn't allowed to happen at all, for holy cows' sake!   
  
'No sale.' The indolent bastard flashed. 'No sale. No sale. No sale. No sale. No sale.' And if that wasn't enough, there was also a huge 'OUT OF ORDER SIGN."   
  
Indeed. It was happening. And he had a vivid sense of deja vu, too.   
  
No. Friggin. Way.   
  
Coffee!   
  
Life's so damn unfair. It's so damn-   
  
The phone rang.   
  
"What?"   
  
"You sound as if you're getting into your 'Let's-brood-coz-brooding-makes-the-world-go-round!' mode again!"   
  
"What the hell do you want, Sendoh?"   
  
"Well, it's late, and you should go home now. I've got dinner here, and afterwards, we're going to play poker!"   
  
"Poker."   
  
"Or scrabble. Or monopoly. Whatever. You choose."   
  
"Go fish."   
  
"Eh?"   
  
"I want to play Go Fish."   
  
"Up to you, pal. All you have to do is get over that immaculately destroyed vending machine and get your ass home."   
  
"But I need the coffee. It's been a tough day."   
  
Snort. "So what else is new? But come over here so we could make it all go away. Hey, if it makes you feel better, I stepped on dog poop on my way to the gym. I feel as if I'm always pooped. Haha! Get the pun?"   
  
"That's the lamest joke I've ever heard in my entire life."   
  
"But you're smiling, anyway."   
  
What the heck. He is.   
  
"Hey, I smell something funny in the kitchen. Gotta dash. Can I trust you enough not to kill yourself on your way home?"   
  
"Yes, mama."   
  
"Good. Come home now."   
  
"Sure."   
  
And Rukawa was looking forward to it.   
  
Perhaps it's not a bad life, after all.   
********  
o.wa.ri  
********  
  
08 April 2004  
  
End Notes:  
This turned out quite differently from the way I was planning to do it. I was aiming for a short WAFF, but hell... a PWP came out instead. Damn, I couldn't write now, if my sanity depended on it. Hope you liked it, though, pointless as it may be. Oh, and I'm working on Celibacy. I *am*. Bear with me, please! 


End file.
